If the state dollars are approved by the House, as expected, the money would be administered by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, which oversees emergency management operations.
Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, who sponsored the legislation, said the money is expected to pay for cleanup and debris removal in the city, similar to when the state receives federal emergency relief dollars.
“The intent is to help out with the associated costs of disaster relief in the city,” Hough said Friday.
While details haven’t been released yet, other possible costs that could be covered include repair or replacement of damaged belongings and vehicles, moving and storage, child care, medical bills and funeral expenses.
If approved by the House, the money could start flowing soon after Kehoe signs the legislation. The city also could begin to seek reimbursement for some of the work it has already done.
In typical disaster scenarios, the state has traditionally paid 10% of public assistance costs, with the federal government paying 75% and local governments 15%.
“There are some extraordinary instances where the feds have paid 100% of debris removal costs for a certain period of time,” Missouri Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell said.
The agency declined to elaborate, saying it does not comment on pending legislation.
The state in the past also has covered 25% of the costs for a FEMA individual assistance program, which helps people who are uninsured or underinsured.
But the state aid “is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster or restore property to its previous condition,” a DPS document notes.
The tornado aid was added to the mix of a special session designed to keep Kansas City’s professional sports teams from moving out of state. The measure moved through the Senate early Thursday and the House is expected to take up the more than $1.5 billion package by Wednesday.
The $100 million outlay for St. Louis was inserted into the plan in hopes of gaining bipartisan support for the stadium subsidies at a time when disaster aid approvals have slowed under the Trump administration.
The money will help bridge the gap while the state awaits a decision on its formal request for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, officials said.
The May 16 tornado came just a day after lawmakers ended their regular spring session without approving Kehoe’s stadium package. The storm cut a 22-mile path across the region, damaging thousands of structures and killing five people.
Damage in the storm’s aftermath quickly became a bargaining chip in the stadium debate for the city’s Democratic delegation. Kehoe initially offered $25 million as a bridge to help the city, but that amount was deemed insufficient by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sen. Jason Bean, R-Holcomb.
“It’s just a good start,” said Bean, a Bootheel region rice and cotton farmer.
The package also authorizes $25 million for emergency housing assistance, as well as a $5,000 income tax deduction to offset insurance policy deductibles for people in any area of the state that’s included in a request for a federal disaster declaration.
Sen. Steve Roberts, D-St. Louis, who helped negotiate the funding, said the plan approved by the Senate will “ensure swift deployment and accountability.”
“We have a moral obligation to respond to the urgent and life-threatening needs of our communities,” Roberts said in a statement Thursday. “We cannot sit and wait for federal agencies to respond.”
Roberts said the money will help with relief efforts that include housing assistance, infrastructure repair and long-term recovery programs.
“Lives were lost. Families were displaced. Businesses were destroyed. This isn’t about politics. It’s about people,” Roberts said.
In order to appease a faction of conservative senators, the stadium proposal includes the potential for property tax breaks for some homeowners facing rising tax bills. The package also contains funding for building projects around the state, including $50 million for a nuclear research reactor used for cancer treatments at the University of Missouri.
While Kehoe has already deployed the National Guard and declared a disaster in St. Louis, the added money was seen as a way to dampen taxpayer skepticism over spending money on sports facilities for wealthy team owners while people are still recovering from the storm.
The rush to pump money into recovery efforts is similar to what former Gov. Jay Nixon pushed for in 2011, when an EF-5 tornado leveled much of Joplin.
At the time, Nixon cut funding for education and stockpiled tax revenues in order to commit $150 million to the response.
But an Associated Press analysis showed the state spent just $36 million of that outlay on disaster aid because the state received ample assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance.
In 2013, Nixon’s then-budget chief said even with the benefit of hindsight, the administration wouldn’t have done anything differently.
The legislation is Senate Bill 1.
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